


Miles Above

by MollyKillers



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Airplanes, Cute, Dorks in Love, Flirting, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Mile High Club, light teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyKillers/pseuds/MollyKillers
Summary: Sonny and Rafael's relationship begins to shift from just colleagues into something more over the course of a long flight for work, with a side of getting into the mile high club
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 53
Collections: Barisi Summer Exchange 2020





	Miles Above

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lady_sb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_sb/gifts).



> Hi Lady_sb! I just gotta say this story was tough haha. I may not have been the best fit for your prompts but I did try my best. You wanted smut in all of them and I have never written smut... so that was challenge number one lol. Also, while it was written on prompt one I kinda took it for all prompts, that you didn't want to much fluff. Which was a challenge again for me as while I'm not the queen of fluff I'm at least in the royal family of fluff as thats basically all I write. So you really challenged me with your prompts (which I loved but also hated hahaha). I really hope you like the fic because I did really try. I tried to hold back on fluffiness and I even wrote a little piece of smut. 
> 
> I really really hope you, and everyone else, like and enjoy it! :)

Rafael watched out of the corner of his eye as the squad's newest detective turned the page of his large leather-bound book and sighed. The detective, who was sitting an empty seat away from the ADA against the window, ran his hands frustratingly up his face and into his hair where he held onto the prematurely graying strands as he took a few upset breaths. He slowly let go of his hair and picked up his note book from the empty seat between them and scribbled down a couple things.

Rafael had been watching him do that same frustrated dance since they had taken off twenty minutes earlier and he found it harder and harder to just sit by and watch it continue. He pulled out his pair of earphones, from which he had been listening to a podcast, and set them in his lap. 

“What’s wrong detective?” he asked quietly, not to disturb anyone around them who might have been trying to sleep on the half full late-night flight to New York from Chicago.

At the sudden sound of his voice Sonny jumped and clutched at his chest, almost dropping his notepad. “God you scared the crap out of me” he breathed out. He looked over at Barba and lightly chuckled at his scared clumsiness. “Was I disturbing you counselor?” he asked warily “I’m sorry about that”.

Rafael held up a hand to stop the younger man’s apology “Carisi you weren’t, I was just watching you get more and more frustrated and you peaked my interest”. 

Sonny marked the page he had been stressing over with a small bookmark that had a picture of a dog reading a book with the caption ‘reading makes “ruff” days better’. He held up the book letting Rafael read the spine. A 3rd edition law book, that Rafael knew fairly well, stared back at him. 

Rafael nodded at the title “so the rumors are true, you are going to law school”. 

Sonny nodded “yep night school Fordham law. I have four-ish semesters left so give or take two years”.

Rafael nodded as memories of long sleepless nights studying and stressing over thick leather-bound books filled his brain “the last two years are simultaneously the best and worst”.

Sonny nodded as he agreed “boy don’t I know it”. He motioned to the notebook and book on his lap “my brain feels like it’s melting”.

Rafael nodded and huffed out an agreeable laugh “yeah law books will do that to you... especially when you’ve just come off three days of crap with the Chicago PD”. 

Sonny closed his eyes and lightly rubbed at them as he nodded, the exhaustion growing more evident on his face, “yep”.

Rafael motioned for the book which Sonny gladly handed over. The ADA opened to where the bookmark was and skimmed the page noting to himself that Sonny was reading about common law precedents. “Are you gunning for my job, detective?” he asked, his tone more playful than not, as he snapped the book closed.

Sonny sent back a fake confident smile “but of course, counselor”.

Rafael chuckled and handed back the book “well I’ve still got two years to really prove myself and secure my place in the DA’s office. So, I think I’ll be okay”.

Sonny laughed “someone seems confident”.

Rafael motioned to himself, who even after three grueling days of hunting for perps and dealing with the Chicago DA’s office, still looked put together in a suit and tie. Then he motioned back to the detective next to him who wore black joggers and an oversized gray hoodie looking every bit of the college student he technically was with his hair messed up and flat out of its usual gelled quaff. “I don’t just seem it detective, I am that confident,” he said as he smiled then added a wink for good measure.

The other man huffed out a laugh as a light pink began to rise up his neck, which was the reaction the older ADA had been hoping for. In their line of work Rafael didn’t have much happiness to look forward to in his day to day work life but flustering the squads newest, and arguably prettiest, member was quickly becoming one his favorite activities.

Sonny opened his mouth to say something back but was interrupted by a nice stewardess. “Can I get you two something to drink” the young lady asked.

Sonny looked up, clearly in thought, before speaking “I’ll have a spicy V8... with ice... please”.

Rafael sent him a confused glance before looking back at the women “I’ll have a sparkling water”.

The women nodded as she wrote down their order and moved to the next row.

“A spicy can of vegetables? I’m kind of surprised by that detective” Rafael said as he turned back to the younger man.

Sonny shrugged “anytime my family would fly, and with four kids that was a rarity, my mom would order that. Now anytime I fly I just always have to get one”.

Rafael nodded “that’s actually really adorable”.

The blush from earlier rose higher up Sonny’s neck “thanks.... I’m actually more surprised by your order. I assumed you’d buy something with alcohol now that we’re off duty”.

Rafael lightly chuckled “I feel that you're implying I’m an alcoholic”. Sonny tried to quickly back track that that wasn’t what he was implying but Rafael waved him off with a laugh “I get it. I do enjoy a good drink now and then, especially after a long case, but I don’t drink on planes”.

Sonny slightly cocked his head “do you mind if I ask why?”.

Rafael shrugged “I don’t love the idea of putting my life in someone else’s hands, I guess that’s just the control freak in me. Also, as a kid I always remember my Abuelita coming home and ranting about the drunk businessmen on her planes when she would fly for work. So, I’ve just always chosen to keep myself level headed while in the air”.

Sonny nodded at finding out the little tidbit about the other man “ah I see... surprisingly the control freak angle doesn’t surprise me”.

Rafael lightly rolled his eyes and let out a laugh as Sonny laughed back. A calm silence fell over the two men as Sonny opened up his book again and began to get back to his note taking. Rafael popped back in his headphones resuming his podcast but instead of putting both buds in he kept one out for reasons even he wasn’t sure of. 

A few minutes later the same stewardess as before came over and handed Rafael his drink with a bag of peanuts. She then handed him Sonny’s drink to pass over. Rafael turned to hand it to the taller man but was surprised to find the detective was so enthralled with his textbook he hadn’t even noticed the stewardess had come and left.

Rafael cleared his throat to get the other man’s attention but he still didn’t notice. Rafael looked down at the drink and bag in his hand and smirked. He took the small peanut bag and lightly tossed it at the other man making it bounce off his chest and land into his lap directly onto his open book. 

“Detective your tomato juice” Rafael smirked as Sonny quickly looked up from the thrown bag. 

Sonny smiled an embarrassed grin as he took the juice. “Sorry about that” he said self-consciously “that’s the second time I’ve been sucked into my reading”.

The older man laughed as he took a sip of his water “trust me Carisi I understand better than most. One-night Rita flicked me in the cheek, multiple times might I add, and I barely noticed because I was working so hard on a paper”.

Sonny lightly giggled to himself “wow, and I thought the devotion and one-track-mindness just came from years of working in the DA’s office”.

Rafael smiled, an activity that was becoming more and more common around the other man “I’ll take that as a compliment, detective”. 

“Maybe it was one” Sonny said as his blush reached his ears. Rafael lightly smiled as he took another drink.

As the two of them drank their respected drinks they made light small talk about nothing and everything. When Sonny finished up his drink he cracked back open his book and began to study. Rafael tried to go back and listen to his podcast but was continually drawn to his row mate as the other man stressed over his book. Rafael finally gave up on the podcast altogether and devoted his full attention to the other man. 

He reached over and took Sonny’s note book and scanned over the notes the future lawyer had already taken. As he read he pulled out a pen of his own and began to cross things out and make side notes that would hopefully help the detective. Once he had marked up the notes to the best of his ability he took Carisi’s textbook and began to highlight all the sections he knew to be most important. As he marked everything up the two men talked about different things, mostly pertaining to what Sonny was learning but their conversations would sometimes derail into other subjects such as life, family, or just things they liked.

By the time they had gone through the two chapters Sonny had been assigned, and Rafael had handed Sonny back his books, the pilot came over the intercom and informed everyone that they were beginning their descent into LaGuardia.

“Sorry I derailed your study session” Rafael said obviously a little embarrassed about basically taking over the other man’s time.

Sonny shrugged happily as he put his book in his bag “oh don’t apologize. I think I learned more about precedents in the last thirty minutes or so then I have in my last couple lectures. So really, I should be thanking you... even if we did get off topic a few times, but they always say it’s good to take breaks and I really enjoyed talking to you so I didn’t mind at all”.

Rafael smiled lightly as a faint blush colored his cheeks “well I’m glad I could be of some help... and I know with you being pretty new to the squad and me being who I am I do tend to come off as...”.

“Scary... intimidating... a bit harsh” Sonny interrupted in a playful tone.

Rafael let out an amused sigh “I was going to say snarky, but I see your point” he said as he lightly rolled his eyes. “But, if you ever need help with studying and want to talk shop... or just talk in general, my door is always open...”.

Sonny smiled a blinding smile and rubbed at the back of his neck “that’s... really sweet of you”.

Rafael lightly shrugged as he tried to play it off and smiled “but know this invitation applies only to you... don’t let the other detectives know or they’ll never stop bothering me”.

Sonny smiled, “trust me, I can keep a secret”. 

Once the plane landed and taxied into the terminal Rafael stood up to grab his overhead bag. 

“Hey, Rafael?” Sonny asked quietly, halting the other man’s movements.

“Hmm?” Rafael answered.

Sonny smiled as the blush from earlier returned in full force “you aren’t so bad, you know.”

“Oh yeah?” the older man scoffed as his eyebrow raised in jest. 

Sonny nodded “yeah. I mean, you come off as really intimidating at first, but you’re actually a really sweet and kind person.”

Rafael ducked his head and smiled a slightly shy smile “well thank you... but don’t go spreading this knowledge around the precinct either, I have an image to uphold”.

Sonny laughed and shook his head fondly.

Rafael stood for a minute, then spoke up again “you know you aren’t so bad yourself.”

Sonny smiled “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me”.

Rafael smiled to himself “well maybe I should make a better habit of doing that”.

Sonny blushed a deep red as he followed the other man off the plane and into the terminal.

***** **Three Years Later** *****

Sonny bounced his knee up and down as he waited for the seat belt sign to finally flash off. “Rafi? How do you feel about joining the mile-high club?” he whispered sensually into his husband’s ear.

“Sonny.” Rafael answered in warning, a no evident in his tone, as he continued to read his book without looking up.

Sonny wiggled his eyebrows “oh come on, live a little.” 

“No.” Rafael replied again, still not looking up. 

Sonny leaned towards Rafael letting his breath tickle against his partner’s neck. He ran a finger down the older man’s face, “I’ll go down on you... it could be fun” he whispered out in a playful tone.

“You can go down on me in our apartment and it’d be more comfortable.” Rafael responded dismissively as he flipped the page of his book.

“But admit that it’d be hot having sex in an airplane bathroom” Sonny said as he laid a small kiss against the ADA’s cheek “I mean our relationship shifted on this exact flight from Chicago to New York three years ago and now we’re here again but married. It’s only right to consummate the relationship where it started”.

Rafael paused as Sonny’s finger drew circles on his waist. He lightly pursed his lips and moved his head as he considered the idea, “technically, even though it might have shifted in that direction on that trip, our relationship started in my office a month afterwards. And as you know we’ve already ‘consummated the relationship’ many times there... but I will admit, it would be a little hot”.

“Only a little hot?” Sonny asked cheekily, his breath hot against the other man’s neck. 

“Sonny, stop it,” Rafael said in warning as he lightly swatted at his husband.

“Come on, you only live once.” Sonny said as he ran his finger over his lover’s chest lightly caressing one of Rafael’s hardened nipples.

This action finally made Rafael put down his book and turn to look at the other man. But instead of want behind his husband's eyes Sonny received a deathly glare, “you better wait or you won’t get lucky at all.” 

“Come on Rafi, you know you want to,” Sonny said as he nibbled against Rafael’s neck.

“As much as I wouldn’t mind, you and I both know it’s a federal offense” Rafael said as he gently pushed Sonny’s mouth away.

Sonny whined and leaned back in against Rafael’s neck where he began to lightly suck “so? That’s only a problem if we get caught, and with our combined knowledge of the law I’m sure we could both get off… pun fully intended”.

Rafael rolled his eyes fondly as he placed his hand firmly on Sonny’s knee. He slowly began to run his hand teasingly up his husband’s thigh making the younger man moan in want as he lightly dug in his nails and slowly dragged his hand higher and higher up the taller man’s thigh.

Rafael leaned in towards Sonny, a flirtatious smile on his lips, “when we get back to New York” he whispered out seductively “I will let you pound me into the mattress, destroy me on the couch, and then you can fuck me against the wall until the only word I can somewhat cohesively make out is your name”. He bit gently against Sonny’s ear and tugged at it teasingly which pulled a high-pitched moan out of the detective. 

As soon as the teasing started though Rafael stopped it in its tracks as he lifted his hand from Sonny’s thigh and pulled away completely. He smiled a mischievous smile “but if you want that, you’ll just have to wait”.

Sonny groaned and buried his head into Rafael’s shoulder as he let out a pathetic whine “you’re killing me Barba”.

Rafael chuckled huskily “it will be worth it not to be arrested, trust me. Plus, those bathrooms are cramped and disgusting anyway”. He tapped against Sonny’s neck making the other man look up. Rafael gently ran a hand up Sonny’s neck-into his lover’s hair where he tugged a handful of the gray strands gently. He slightly moved so their lips could easily reach each other and pulled the other man into a sultry kiss. Rafael controlled the kiss letting them both explore each other’s mouths until he pulled away which pulled another delicious, but pitiful moan, out of his husband.

Rafael smiled, slightly wickedly, at the sight of his blissed-out husband “we land in less than thirty minutes, then you have the entire weekend to destroy me in any way you can possibly think of”.

Sonny whined like a child who had just had his favorite toy taken away “you’re a fucking tease...”.

Rafael smiled as he picked back up his book “I know, but you should have known that when you married me”.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you liked it Lady_sb! Thank you for your fun (but tough lol) prompts!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
